The Adventures of a Time-Traveling Librarian
by Londonvetgirl25
Summary: Ashia Suresh is a no-nonsense librarian who wants no part in risky,uncomfortable things like adventures, thank you very much. So what's a poor girl to do when she is yanked back through time again and again? Even worse, having to undergo adventures with trouble-attracting raccoons? She did not sign up for this! This will be the 1st of a trilogy. Please give it a chance and reviews!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! This is a fanfic that was inspired by pictures drawn by Mutt99 on Deviantart that I absolutely loved! Yes, I know I have other works, well, in the works, but I will not abandon them. I shall finish them all! Even if it takes a few days…weeks…months…years but it shall happen! Anyway, I do not own any characters from the Sly Cooper series; the character of Ashia & basic plot line belong to Mutt99 who has graciously given me permission to use his images for this fanfiction series. **

The Adventures of a Time-Traveling Librarian Part 1- Land of the Rising Sun

Chapter 1: The Librarian

Today was looking to be a normal winter day. Just the way she liked it. Ashia Suresh loved quiet, uneventful days for these were the days that she could truly enjoy _her_ library.

For Ashia was the assistant librarian of the New York Public library. Every book, every manuscript, every record was lovingly tended to by the 26-year old albino tigress. To say that she knew every inch of the library and the contents of a vast majority of the works stored there better than the back of her hand was not an exaggeration. Though she was technically an assistant, any and all regular library users knew to ask her for help, as the head librarian was rarely there due to traveling around the world in search of new, wonderful texts to be sent back to the library. Her chocolate brown eyes were quick to notice anything out of place or a text being snuck out (damn cheap college students thinking they could get away with anything).

Originally, the young woman was from the UK, her parents having immigrated from Bangladesh just before her birth. Growing up in a hard-working family had ingrained a sense of responsibility and maturity that she brought with her to New York when she came to complete her undergraduate degree in literature. In the summer of her sophomore year (AN: 2nd year of an undergraduate degree for those unfamiliar with the American system), a listing for a summer job at the New York Public library had caught her interest as an avid book lover. The head librarian, a middle-aged aardvark who was spending more and more of his time traveling to obtain literature for the library, had been impressed by the quiet, clean-cut tigress and her obvious enthusiasm for the treasures held here. Ever since then, Ashia had found her niche in this literary haven and made it her home.

It was a haven for her as she was not the most social person around. Quiet and stern, she tended to look severe. Previous classmates would describe her as a "stick-in-the-mud" sort of person as she tended to avoid many activities such as parties and football games, finding them rather boring since she didn't drink. Nor was she a dare-devil. The day she did something like bungee-jumping or parachuting would be the day after the world ended. As a result, she was often excluded, not out of any sort of ill-will from her colleagues, but because they either forgot she was there or simply assumed that she wouldn't enjoy it.

At the moment, her haven was empty of everyone except Ashia who was busily tending to the cultural section. She was in the middle of organizing different tomes discussing Japanese cuisine and etiquette which had been entirely undone by local students scrambling to find information before their semester abroad; when a slender book fell out. Not recognizing it, the tigress picked up to read the title _Mixing beauty and cuisine_ by a Rioichi Cooper. Shrugging her shoulders, she set the volume on her desk then resumed organizing. She wanted to read it as it was new and, really, she didn't have much better to do at the moment (once she had finished rearranging everything that is).

Once she was done, she returned to her desk and sat down to flip through the book. She was quickly entranced by colorful illustrations not only of sushi but also of Japanese landscapes with short but beautiful descriptions of how these vistas inspired his recipes. She was so engulfed in the beauty of the information that she was shocked upon reaching the final page. Not only had she reached the end in the short hour but this page was different. For the author here had included no illustrations, just a short, simple message that ran: _The worst crime of all is not seeing the flower._

Puzzled, she made to close the book only to stop upon seeing the engraving of a strange symbol. A sharp C shape that ended with a long line, almost like a staff or cane of some sort. She ran her fingers along the shape as she pondered what it could mean. But as she did so, things began to get very strange.

The book started to glow. It actually started glowing with a blue aura. "What the bloody-?!" But before she could finish the statement, the glow spread from the book to her and with a bang, she vanished, the only evidence of her previous presence was the now silent book left at the empty desk.

 **Thank you all for reading. Please leave reviews as it inspires me to keep going! If anyone is curious about Rioichi's quote at the end (which btw I got off a website for inspirational Japanese quotes), it will be explained by the story & I will not spoil it (mwahaha).**


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone, sorry it took me so long to get this next chapter out! Vet school is very busy to put it mildly. I will do my best to update this and my other stories as quickly as possible though it may take some time. But I do promise to finish all my stories! Please read, review & enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time or Ashia (who belongs to Mutt99 on Deviantart- happy late birthday btw!). There are also character names in here from another story. Can you guess what work they are from? The other source will be revealed in the next chapter!

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Chapter 2: Becoming a geisha

The white tigress shrieked as she was whipped through a swirling blue vortex. But just as suddenly as her fall began, it stopped, concluding with her slamming into the hard ground, her head thumping against it. She could just make out bamboo shoots surrounding her and the sound of hurried feet before her vision blackened and she knew no more.

Ashia jerked awake, her head pounding. Was the vortex some work-induced nightmare or migraine-induced vision? However, one quick look at herself quickly dashed those hopes. Instead of her usual maroon pencil skirt and blouse, she seemed to be wearing some sort of red floor-length plain cotton robe, her normal attire nowhere to be found. _Ok_ Ashia reasoned to herself, trying not to panic _you have obviously worked far too hard lately and are now having some sort of…hallucinations. But all you have to do is wait for it to end; absolutely nothing is wrong_.

She got up and surveyed the room around her which was sparsely furnished with a small chest of drawers, a sleeping mat (from which she had just risen), paper walls and straw mats which covered the floor. _Tatami mats,_ her mind supplied while she tried to suppress hysterical giggles. These were common in Asian cultures such as Japan. But she obviously wasn't in Japan, was she? She had probably just fallen somewhere in Chinatown on the way home from the library and had been put in someone's room to recover, right?

Before she could come up with anymore theories regarding her current situation, the paper door slid back to admit two- wait a minute why were they dressed like _samurai?_ \- into the room. Saying nothing, the armored boars each grabbed her by an arm and hoisted her from the room.

"Don't touch me, get off!" Ashia shrieked, trying to wrestle her arms free to no avail. Her efforts were simply ignored as she was brought down a flight of stairs and into what looked like some sort of office.

The screen door slammed shut behind her, leaving her alone with an enormous rhino lady wearing a ridiculous amount of makeup and a kimono, hers a light blue. She looked up from what appeared to be an abacus to scrutinize the newcomer.

"Do you know where you are?" The rhino croaked, her voice rougher than the crunch of gravel being trod on. Ashia mutely shook her head. "You are in my _okiya_ , girl, after my guards found you in a clearing nearby. Thus, saving your life. As a result, you belong to _me_." Ashia began to protest but was cut off. "I don't care where you came from nor how you arrived. From now on, you will be a _geisha_ and everything you do will be to serve the _okiya_ and myself. Dismissed."

Before she could say anything, the boars returned, hauling her out of the office and down multiple twisting corridors and throwing her through another set of screen doors. From her sprawled position, Ashia met the gazes of three startled women, a jaguar and two snow leopards who were also dressed in kimono. One of the guards snapped at them, "Madame Hatsumomo wishes for her to be trained." He then marched out, leaving the women alone.

Ashia struggled to her feet and backed away from them. "There is no way in _hell_ I will ever be a geisha!" She hissed ferociously. The situation was starting to fully hit her, and she could just feel a panic attack coming on. The jaguar looked at her sympathetically and approached her slowly. "That is what I also said, yet here I am. You see, Hatsumomo controls most of the village and her word is law. Disobey her and, well…" Here, she paused, then turned around and lowered her kimono past her shoulders to reveal numerous whip wheals. Ashia gasped then nodded. Not only could she lose her life, she also had no idea where she was. For now, it may be better to play along until she could find a way out of this mess.

"Where am I exactly?" She asked. The three felines looked surprised and one of the snow leopards answered. "Kyoto. How do you not know?" The tigress shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not sure how I arrived. One moment, I was reading a book about this place, the next I am falling through this blue light…" She trailed off, noting the dubious looks of her audience. The jaguar stated, "Well everything about you is, no offense, a little odd from your accent to the clothes you arrived in… Be that as it may, you're still going to have to survive here until you can get back home." Swallowing her hurt pride and seething anger, Ashia agreed.

* * *

Thus, began her training. The jaguar, Sayuri, first instructed her on dressing in the kimono and applying her makeup. It was all much more complicated than she anticipated. First, she was given a wooden twig that was burned at the end which she was informed was paulownia wood to help emphasize her faded eyebrows as well as pigment sticks of various red colors for eye shadow and liner as well as lipstick. She was thankful that, as a result of having white fur, she didn't have to smear her face with white makeup.

Next, came the rest of the kimono which was surprisingly confusing. After swapping the cotton robe (which turned out to be a "makeup robe") for a white short-sleeved cotton shirt and a silk slip, small pillows were tied around her waist to act as padding to "perfect her figure." Once Ashia had calmed down (the 3 women had to pin her to a chair and cover her mouth to stop her rant), a light pink underrobe was added with a red collar to signify her status as an apprentice geisha or _maiko_. Then came the white socks with toes called _tabi_ which fit her feet snugly (she made a mental note to find them back home if she could) followed by the main kimono and the accompanying silk tie or _obi_. This last article was a light pink, standing out against the dark red kimono, and had to be fixed in place by a wizened stork, the dresser, who did this using well placed clasps and padding to achieve the final knot. Her white hair was then arranged in an elegant top knot with a pink lotus flower added for adornment.

Once she was dressed, the snow leopard twins, Li and Xi, taught her dancing, music and general entertainment etiquette. They had to stifle laughs as Ashia stumbled around at first in the large sandals, or _zori_ , worn by geisha as they showed her how to properly shuffle her feet, so she didn't tip over. By the end of the day, Ashia's head was spinning with different techniques for serving tea and picking kimonos and she had no energy left to despair of her situation as she was led back to the room where she had awoken. She didn't notice a navy, bush-tailed shadow outside her window as her body hit the sleeping mats, instantly asleep.

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AN: See you all in the next chapter. Brownie points to anyone who can name the book from which some of the character names came from (hint- I'm talking about Madame Hatsumomo and Sayuri)!


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